Alternative billing modes for security and automation applications

ABSTRACT

Techniques for facilitating one or more operating modes for monitoring of an intelligent home system are disclosed. The techniques facilitate detecting an adverse condition in a building, generating an alert based on the detection, sending a notification about the alert to a user (e.g., to a mobile device), awaiting a user response, and determining whether to send the alert to a central monitoring system to facilitate notification of an appropriate responder for the adverse condition. Determining whether to send the alert to the central monitoring system may be based on an affirmative command from the user or a failure to receive any command from the user. The user may be billed for the service of notifying an appropriate responder provided by central monitoring system regularly, intermittently when the user is away from the building, or on a per-alert basis.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application that claims priority to and thebenefit of the filing date of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/525,607,filed Oct. 28, 2014 and entitled “ALTERNATIVE BILLING MODES FOR SECURITYAND AUTOMATION APPLICATIONS,” which claims priority to and the benefitof the filing date of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/739,470, filed Jan.11, 2013 and entitled “ALTERNATIVE BILLING MODES FOR SECURITY ANDAUTOMATION APPLICATIONS,” the entire disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This disclosure generally relates to computer networking, particularlythe networking of automation and/or security products in a building orhome.

BACKGROUND

As computer and computer networking technology has become less expensiveand more widespread, more and more devices have started to incorporatedigital “smart” functionalities. For example, controls and sensorscapable of interfacing with a network can now be incorporated intodevices such as appliances, security systems, light switches, and watervalves. Furthermore, it is possible for one or more central controllersto interface with the smart devices to facilitate automation andsecurity applications. Such central controllers in a building mayforward alerts and collected information to a central monitoring systemso a monitor may call an appropriate responder to go to the building toaddress a security breach or other adverse condition. However, securitysystems have used a flat-rate, monthly billing structure in the past.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Accordingly, it may be advantageous to create alternative billing modesfor security and automation systems installed in buildings.

In an embodiment, a method for monitoring a building comprising:monitoring a building for adverse conditions; generating an alert whenan adverse condition is detected; sending the alert to a mobile deviceto inform a user of the adverse condition; asking the user with themobile device to respond to the alert by one of (i) sending a firstresponse to deactivate the alert, or (ii) sending a second response torequest one or more appropriate responders be sent to the building toaddress the adverse condition; if the user sent the first response,deactivating the alert; and if the user sent the second response,charging the user for requesting one or more appropriate responders tobe sent to the building to address the adverse condition.

In another embodiment, a method for monitoring a building with abuilding monitoring system wherein the building monitoring systemgenerates an alert when an adverse condition is detected, the methodcomprising: configuring the building monitoring system to a firstoperating mode in which the building monitoring system does not sendalerts to a central monitoring system without one of (i) receiving anaffirmative user command or (ii) a failing to receive a negative usercommand; determining that a user residing in the building will be awayfrom the building for a certain period of time; and reconfiguring thebuilding monitoring system to a second operating mode in which thebuilding monitoring system sends alerts to the central monitoringsystem, wherein the central monitoring system responds to a receivedalert by charging the user for requesting one or more appropriateresponders be sent to the building to address the adverse condition thatwas detected.

In an embodiment, a building monitoring system including a processor;and one or more program memories storing executable instructions thatwhen executed by the processor cause the building monitoring system to:detect adverse conditions proximate to a building; generate an alertwhen an adverse condition is detected; send the alert to a mobile deviceto inform a user of the adverse condition; ask the user with the mobiledevice to respond to the alert by one of (i) sending a first response todeactivate the alert, or (ii) sending a second response to request oneor more appropriate responders be sent to the building to address theadverse condition; if the user sent the first response, deactivate thealert; and if the user sent the second response, charge the user forrequesting one or more appropriate responders to be sent to the buildingto address the adverse condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures described below depict various aspects of the system andmethods disclosed herein. It should be understood that each figuredepicts an embodiment of a particular aspect of the disclosed system andmethods, and that each of the figures is intended to accord with apossible embodiment thereof. Further, wherever possible, the followingdescription refers to the reference numerals included in the followingfigures, in which features depicted in multiple figures are designatedwith consistent reference numerals.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computer network, a computerserver, an intelligent home system controller, and intelligent homesystem products on which an exemplary intelligent home productrecommendation system and method may operate in accordance with thedescribed embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an intelligent home systemcontroller;

FIG. 3 illustrates an block diagram of an exemplary intelligent homesystem monitoring operating mode method operating in accordance with thedescribed embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary full monitoring for a definite period oftime monitoring operating mode operating in accordance with thedescribed embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary limited monitoring where the customerauthorizes sending an alert to a monitor on alert-by-alert basismonitoring operating mode operating in accordance with the describedembodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary home with intelligenthome system products installed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description ofnumerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legalscope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construedas exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment, asdescribing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if notimpossible. One could implement numerous alternate embodiments, usingeither current technology or technology developed after the filing dateof this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

It should also be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined inthis patent using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘_(——————)’ ishereby defined to mean . . . ” or a similar sentence, there is no intentto limit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication,beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not beinterpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in anysection of this patent (other than the language of the claims). To theextent that any term recited in the claims at the end of this patent isreferred to in this patent in a manner consistent with a single meaning,that is done for sake of clarity only so as to not confuse the reader,and it is not intended that such claim term be limited, by implicationor otherwise, to that single meaning. Finally, unless a claim element isdefined by reciting the word “means” and a function without the recitalof any structure, it is not intended that the scope of any claim elementbe interpreted based on the application of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixthparagraph.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary intelligent homemonitoring system 100. The high-level architecture includes bothhardware and software applications, as well as various datacommunications channels for communicating data between the varioushardware and software components. The intelligent home monitoring system100 may be roughly divided into front-end components 102 and back-endcomponents 104. The front-end components 102 may be disposed within oneor more homes 130. It will be appreciated that while the word “home” isused to refer to the site at which the exemplary embodiment isinstalled, the exemplary intelligent home monitoring system 100 could beinstalled in any number of buildings or locations such as asingle-family house, apartment, condominium, or even non-residentiallocations such as businesses or warehouses. Further, while some of theexemplary front-end components 102 are described as being disposed“within” a home, it will be understood that some or all of the front-endcomponents 102 may be installed outside or nearby a home. Further still,some or all of the front-end components 102 (for example, the remoteintelligent home system controller 106R discussed below) may be remotefrom the home 130 (e.g., the functions described here in as beingperformed by the intelligent home system controller 106 may be performedall or in part by products connected to the home 130 over the network132 in a distributed processing or cloud computing arrangement). Thefront-end components 102 may include an intelligent home systemcontroller 106, a control device 110, a sensor 112, an appliance 114, adisplay 116, and/or an input device 118. The front-end components 102may also include a back-up power supply (e.g., battery, uninterruptablepower supply, generator, etc.) (not shown). The front-end components 102may be connected to each other via a link 120 and/or connected to anetwork 108 by the link 120. The link 120 may be a wired connection, awireless connection (e.g., one of the IEEE 802.11 standards), an opticalconnection, etc.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary intelligent homesystem controller 106. The intelligent home system controller 106 mayhave a controller 202 that is operatively connected to the database 210via a link 218. It should be noted that, while not shown, additionaldatabases may be linked to the controller 202 in a known manner. Thecontroller 202 may include a program memory 204, a processor 206 (may becalled a microcontroller or a microprocessor), a random-access memory(RAM) 208, and an input/output (I/O) circuit 214, all of which may beinterconnected via an address/data bus 216. It should be appreciatedthat although only one microprocessor 206 is shown, the controller 202may include multiple microprocessors 206. Similarly, the memory of thecontroller 202 may include multiple RAMs 208 and multiple programmemories 204. Although the I/O circuit 214 is shown as a single block,it should be appreciated that the I/O circuit 214 may include a numberof different types of I/O circuits. The program memory 204 and/or theRAM 208 may include a graphical user interface 220, an intelligent homesystem application 222, a plurality of software applications 224, and aplurality of software routines 226. The graphical user interface 220 maybe a set of instructions that when executed by the processor 206 causethe display(s) 116/116R and the input devices(s) 118/118R to displayinformation to a user and/or receive input from the user. As usedherein, the terms “user” or “customer” refers to a user of theintelligent home monitoring system 100 described below and may be usedinterchangeably. Furthermore, there may be more than one user of theintelligent home monitoring system 100 (e.g., a family, etc.). Further,the users may include a primary user (e.g., the owner of the home 130who is billed for the monitoring services discussed below) and one ormore authorized secondary users (e.g., a personal assistant of theprimary user). It will be understood that sending an alert to the useras discussed herein may also include sending the alert to other users.Further, it will also be understood that it may be advantageous to sendthe alert to the primary and secondary users but only accept commandsfrom the primary user. The intelligent home system application 222 maybe a set of instructions that when executed by the processor 206 causethe intelligent home system controller 106 to carry out the functionsassociated with the exemplary intelligent home monitoring system 100described herein. The monitoring operating modes described herein may beimplemented as one or more modules comprising computer-executableinstructions that when executed by the processor 206 cause theintelligent home system controller 106 to implement the variousmonitoring operating modes. These modules may be included in theintelligent home system application 222, the plurality of softwareapplications 224, and/or the plurality of software routines 226.Further, some or all of the monitoring operating modules (or portionsthereof) may be stored in the back-end components 104 and implemented bythe back-end components 104.

The RAM(s) 208 and program memories 204 may be implemented assemiconductor memories, magnetically readable memories, and/or opticallyreadable memories, for example. The controller 202 may also beoperatively connected to the network 108 via a link 120. The intelligenthome system controller 106 further includes a database 210 or other datastorage mechanism (e.g., one or more hard disk drives, optical storagedrives, solid state storage devices, etc.). The database 210 is adaptedto store data related to the operation of the intelligent homemonitoring system 100. Such data might include, for example, customerdata collected by the intelligent home system controller 106 from theintelligent home products 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 pertaining to theintelligent home monitoring system 100 such as sensor data, power usagedata, control data, input data, other data pertaining to the usage ofthe intelligent home products, user profiles and preferences,application data for the plurality of applications 224, routine data forthe plurality of routines 226, or other kinds of data. The intelligenthome system controller 106 may access data stored in the database 210when executing various functions and tasks associated with the operationof the intelligent home monitoring system 100.

The intelligent home system controller 106 may use the graphical userinterface to provide on the display 116 and/or remote display 116Rinformation based on the data received from the intelligent homeproducts 110, 112, 114, 116, 118. For example, the intelligent homesystem controller 106 may be configured to provide with the display 116and/or remote display 116R the state of one or more control devices 110(e.g., whether a light is on or off), a reading from a sensor 112 (e.g.,whether water has been detected in the basement), the state of or areading from an appliance 114 (e.g., whether the stove is on), etc.Additionally, or alternatively, the intelligent home system controllermay use the graphical user interface to provide on the display 116and/or remote display 116R with alerts generated from the data receivedfrom the intelligent home products 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 such as, forexample, a security system alert, a fire alert, a flooding alert, poweroutage alert, etc. The user may acknowledge the information provided,disable alerts, forward an alert to the monitor 142 as described herein,adjust the state of a control device 110, adjust the state of anappliance 114, etc. using the display 116 and/or remote display 116R inconjunction with an input device 118 and/or remote input device 118R.For example, a user may receive an alert that the security system in hishome 130 has been activated on his smartphone. Using his smartphone, theuser may disable the alert or forward the alert to the monitor 142. Themonitor 142 may then call the police department as discussed below. Inanother example, a user may use her tablet computer to check to see ifshe remembered to turn off the stove. The tablet computer may access theintelligent home controller 106 over the network 132 to query thecurrent state of the stove. If she sees that the stove is on, she mayinput a command on her tablet computer to deactivate the stove. Ofcourse, it will be understood that the foregoing are but two examples.Alternatively or additionally, the intelligent home system controller106 may send the information based on the data received from theintelligent home products 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 to the server 140 overthe network 132, and the server 140 may be configured to provide theinformation with the display 116 and/or remote display 116R. In suchcases, the server 140 may act as a middleman between the intelligenthome controller and the display 116 and/or remote display 116R.

Referring again to FIG. 1, as an alternative to or in addition to theintelligent home system controller 106, a remote intelligent home systemcontroller 106R may be used to replace or augment the functions of theintelligent home system controller 106. The remote intelligent homesystem controller 106R may be a computer system or server connected tothe network 132 by link 128. Further, the remote intelligent home systemcontroller 106R may be implemented using distributed processing or“cloud computing” wherein the functions of the remote intelligent homesystem controller 106R may be performed by one or more computers orservers connected to the network 132. The remote intelligent home systemcontroller 106R may be implemented in a server 140 in the back-endcomponents 104 or in a similar server in the front-end components 102.

A control device 110 may be any of a number of devices that allowautomatic and/or remote control of systems in the home 130. For example,the control device 110 may be a thermostat that can be adjustedaccording to inputs from the intelligent home system controller 106 toincrease or decrease the temperature in the home 130. Such a thermostatmay control the temperature in a room and/or the entire home 130. Thecontrol device 110 may also be a light switch that can be adjustedaccording to inputs from the intelligent home system controller 106 toturn on, turn off, brighten, and/or dim lights in the home. Such lightswitches may be coupled to all the lights in a room and/or an individuallight fixture. The control device 110 may be an automated power outletthat can be adjusted according to inputs from the intelligent homesystem controller 106 to apply power and/or remove power from an outlet.Such an automated power outlet may, for example, allow for remoteturning off of a television that was left on with a user command,automatic turning off of an electric stove that was left on after athreshold amount of time has elapsed since motion was detected in thehome 130, automatic turning on of a lamp when motion is detected in theroom, etc. Similarly, the control device 110 may be an automated circuitbreaker that can be adjusted according to input from the intelligenthome system controller 106 to automatically and/or remotely apply orremove power to the entire home 130. The control device 110 may be anautomated water valve that can be adjusted according to inputs from theintelligent home system controller 106 to adjust the flow of water inand around the home 130 (e.g., turning on or turning off sprinklers,turning on a pump to prevent the basement from flooding, etc.). Thecontrol device 110 may be an automated gas valve that can be adjustedaccording to input from the intelligent home system controller 106 toadjust the flow of gas in and around the home 130. Such an automated gasvalve may, for example, allow for automatic and/or remote shutting offof gas during a fire or earthquake, etc.

The sensor 112 may be any of a number of sensors that may gatherinformation about conditions in the home 130 and/or activities in thehome 130. For example, the sensor 112 may be a smoke detector which maysend an input to the intelligent home system controller 106 indicatingthe presence of smoke in the home 130. The sensor 112 may also be a partof the thermostat discussed above which may send input to theintelligent home system controller 106 indicating the temperature in thehome 130. The sensor 112 may be a water sensor which may send input tothe intelligent home system controller 106 indicating, for example, theflow rate of a faucet, the presence of water in the basement, a roofleak in the attic, whether the sprinkler system is turned on, etc. Thesensor 112 may be an energy monitor which may measure the power usage ofa light fixture, an appliance, an entire room, the entire home 130, etc.The sensor 112 may be any of a number of security sensors. Such securitysensors may include motion sensors, door sensors (to detect the opening,closing, and/or breaking of a door), window sensors (to detect theopening, closing, and/or break of a window), etc. The sensor 112 may bea camera and/or a microphone which may send visual and/or audible inputto the intelligent home system controller 106.

The appliance 114 may be any of a number of appliances that may bepresent in the home 130 and communicating with the intelligent homesystem controller 106. Each appliance 114 may be a “smart” appliance.For example, the appliance 114 may have an integrated computer systemthat helps to optimize the operation of the appliance 114. Such anintegrated computer system may assist, for example, with schedulingusage of the appliance (e.g., a smart dishwasher that will wait to runthe dishwashing cycle until off-peak hours), sending usage reports tothe intelligent home system controller 106, sending sensor data to theintelligent home system controller 106, receiving commands from theintelligent home system controller 106, etc. An appliance 114 may be arefrigerator, dishwasher, a washing machine, a dryer, an oven, a stove,a microwave, a coffeemaker, a blender, a stand mixer, a television, avideo game console, a cable box or digital video recorder, etc.Additionally, an appliance 114 may also be a household robot (e.g., arobotic vacuum cleaner).

The display 116 may be any of a number of visual and/or audible outputdevices that may be used to display output from the intelligent homesystem controller 106. Such output may include sensor readings, alertmessages, reports on the usage of various system in the home (e.g.,electricity, water, etc.), a list of supplies to purchase (e.g., a smartrefrigerator has reported that the milk and eggs are running out andrecommends to purchase some of each), video or images from a camera, auser interface operating in conjunction with the input device 118, etc.The display 116 may also display data generated outside the home 130,such as information about weather conditions, public safetyannouncements, sports scores, advertisements, television channels,videos, etc. The display 116 may be a monitor (e.g., an LCD monitor, aCRT monitor), a television, a screen integrated into a control panel ofthe intelligent home system controller 106, a screen integrated into anappliance 114, etc. The display 116 may be used to present a graphicaluser interface 220 with which the user can interact with the intelligenthome system controller 106. Additionally, the display 116 may alsoinclude or be connected to speakers (not shown). Such speakers may beused to present information from the intelligent home system controller106, for example, in connection with the graphical user interface 220,an audible alert, etc. The display 116 may also be a display that isremote from the home 130. The display 116 may be a remote display 116R(e.g., a smartphone, tablet computer, or personal computer, etc.) thatsends and receives information over the network 132 over a wirelessconnection 124 (e.g., a cellular network connection, an 802.11connection) or a wired connection 126. The remote display 116R mayinclude a user interface to display information about the intelligenthome system to a user via an application installed on the smartphone,tablet computer, or laptop computer. The remote display 116R may receiveinformation from the intelligent home system controller 106 and displayinformation about one or more of the control device 110, sensor 112,appliance 114, display 116, or input device 118. For example, a user mayuse the application on his smartphone to receive an alert from theintelligent home system controller 106 over the wireless connection 124.Of course, it will be understood that devices other than a smartphone,tablet computer, or personal computer may be a remote display 116R.

The input device 118 may be any of a number of input devices that may beused to input data and/or commands to the intelligent home systemcontroller 106. For example, the input device 118 may be a keyboard,mouse, remote control, etc. The input device 118 may also be integratedwith the display 116, for example, as a touchscreen. The input device118 may also be a microphone which can receive verbal commands from auser. The input device 118 may be used to receive commands in connectionwith the graphical user interface 220, the intelligent home systemapplication 222, and/or any other applications or routines associatedwith the exemplary intelligent home monitoring system 100. The inputdevice 118 may be a remote input device 118R (e.g., a smartphone, tabletcomputer, or personal computer, etc.) that sends and receivesinformation over the network 132 over a wireless connection 124 (e.g., acellular network connection, an 802.11 connection) or a wired connection126. The remote input device 118R may receive user input via anapplication installed on the smartphone, tablet computer, or laptopcomputer that may present a user interface to display information aboutthe intelligent home system and receive user input. The remote inputdevice 118R may send commands (e.g., activate, deactivate, toggle, etc.)to the intelligent home system controller 106 to affect one or more ofthe control device 110, sensor 112, appliance 114, display 116, or inputdevice 118. For example, a user may use the application on hissmartphone to turn off his stove over the wireless connection 124. Ofcourse, it will be understood that devices other than a smartphone,tablet computer, or personal computer may be a remote input device 118R.

The front-end components 102 communicate with the back-end components104 via the network 132. For example, the intelligent home systemproducts 106-118 situated in the home 130 may be connected to thenetwork 132 via the home network 108 and the link 122. The link 122 maybe a wired connection, a wireless connection (e.g., one of the IEEE802.11 standards), an optical connection, etc. The remote products 106R,116R, 118R may be similarly connected to the network 132 over respectivelinks 128, 124, and 126. The network 132 may be a proprietary network, asecure public internet, a virtual private network or some other type ofnetwork, such as dedicated access lines, plain ordinary telephone lines,satellite links, combinations of these, etc. Where the network 132comprises the Internet, data communications may take place over thenetwork 132 via an Internet communication protocol. The back-endcomponents 104 include a server 140. The server 140 may include one ormore computer processors adapted and configured to execute varioussoftware applications and components of the intelligent home monitoringsystem 100, in addition to other software applications.

Similarly to the intelligent home system controller 106, the server 140may have a controller 155 that is operatively connected to the database146 via a link 156. It should be noted that, while not shown, additionaldatabases may be linked to the controller 155 in a known manner. Thecontroller 155 may include a program memory 160, a processor 162 (may becalled a microcontroller or a microprocessor), a random-access memory(RAM) 164, and an input/output (I/O) circuit 166, all of which may beinterconnected via an address/data bus 165. It should be appreciatedthat although only one microprocessor 162 is shown, the controller 155may include multiple microprocessors 162. Similarly, the memory of thecontroller 155 may include multiple RAMs 164 and multiple programmemories 160. Although the I/O circuit 166 is shown as a single block,it should be appreciated that the I/O circuit 166 may include a numberof different types of I/O circuits. The RAM(s) 164 and program memories160 may be implemented as semiconductor memories, magnetically readablememories, and/or optically readable memories, for example. Thecontroller 155 may also be operatively connected to the network 132 viaa link 135. The server 140 further includes a database 146 or other datastorage mechanism (e.g., one or more hard disk drives, optical storagedrives, solid state storage devices, etc.). The database 146 is adaptedto store data related to the operation of the intelligent homemonitoring system 100. Such data might include, for example, customerdata collected by the intelligent home system controller 106 pertainingto the intelligent home monitoring system 100 and uploaded to the server140 such as data pertaining to the usage of the intelligent homeproducts, data pertaining to insurance claims filed by customers,customer profiles, information about various intelligent home productsthat are available for installation, web page templates and/or webpages, or other kinds of data. The server 140 may access data stored inthe database 146 when executing various functions and tasks associatedwith the operation of the intelligent home monitoring system 100.

As shown in FIG. 1, the program memory 160 and/or the RAM 164 may storevarious applications for execution by the microprocessor 162. Forexample, a user-interface application 236 may provide a user interfaceto the server 140. The user interface application 236 may, for example,allow a network administrator to configure, troubleshoot, or testvarious aspects of the server's operation, or otherwise to accessinformation thereon. A server application 238 operates to transmit andreceive information from one or more intelligent home system controllers106 on the network 132. The server application 238 may receive andaggregate alerts and usage data, and forward alerts to a monitor 142 asdiscussed herein. The server application 238 may be a single module 238or a plurality of modules 238A, 238B. While the server application 238is depicted in FIG. 1 as including two modules, 238A and 238B, theserver application 238 may include any number of modules accomplishingtasks related to implantation of the server 140. By way of example, themodule 238A may populate and transmit the client application data and/ormay receive and evaluate inputs from the user to receive a data accessrequest, while the module 238B may communicate with one or more of theback-end components 104 to fulfill a data access request or forward analert to a monitor 142.

Additionally, the back-end components 104 may further include anintelligent home system monitor 142. The monitor 142 may be a humanmonitor or a computer monitor as shown in FIG. 1. The monitor 142 mayreceive data from the server 140 and/or the front-end components 102over the network 132. Such data may include information from and/orabout the intelligent home controller 106, control device 110, sensor112, appliance 114, display 116, and/or input device 118. The monitor142 may also receive this information indirectly (e.g., the server 140may forward information to the monitor 142, the user may forward alertsto the monitor 142 with an input device 118 or remote input device118R). If the monitor 142 receives information indicating an eventpotentially requiring an appropriate responder (e.g., law enforcementfor a security alert, fire department for a fire alert, paramedics for amedical alert, plumber for a leak alert, power company for a poweroutage alert, etc.), the monitor 142 may attempt to contact the user(e.g., with a telephone call, text message, email, app alert, etc.) toverify the event potentially requiring a appropriate responder and/ornotify the appropriate responder. For example, the monitor 142 mayreceive information from a smoke detector (i.e., a sensor 112)indicating that the home 130 may be ablaze. The monitor 142 may thenattempt to contact the user to ascertain the severity of the fire andask if the fire department should be called. If the user does not answeror if the user requests that the fire department be notified, themonitor 142 may contact the fire department and provide the firedispatch with information about the home 130 (e.g., address, number ofresidents, configuration of home, etc.) and/or information about thefire (e.g., smoke detected in four rooms of the house). In anotherexample, the monitor 142 may receive information from water valve (i.e.,a control 110) indicating that the valve is open and may also receiveinformation from a water sensor (i.e., a sensor 112) indicating that thebasement has begun to flood. The monitor 142 may attempt to contact theuser to notify the user and ask if remote closing of the water valveand/or calling a plumber is requested. If the user does not answer or ifthe user responds in the affirmative, the monitor 142 may close thewater valve and/or call a plumber to prevent further flooding of thebasement. It may be advantageous to call the appropriate responderwithout first attempting to contact the user (e.g., if the user hasindicated he or she will be out of the country or in the wilderness).

Although the intelligent home monitoring system 100 is shown to includeone server 140, one monitor 142, one home 130, one intelligent homesystem controller 106, one control device 110, one sensor 112, oneappliance 114, one display 116, and one input device 118 it should beunderstood that different numbers of servers 140, monitors 142, homes130, intelligent home system controllers 106, control devices 110,sensors 112, appliances 114, displays 116, and input devices 118 may beutilized. For example, the system 100 may include a plurality of servers140 and hundreds of homes 130, all of which may be interconnected viathe network 132. Further, each home 130 may include more than one ofeach of an intelligent home system controller 106, a control device 110,a sensor 112, an appliance 114, a display 116, and an input device 118.For example, a large home 130 may include two intelligent home systemcontrollers 106 that are connected to multiple control devices 110,multiple sensors 112, multiple appliances 114, multiple displays 116,and/or input devices 118. Additionally several homes 130 may be located,by way of example rather than limitation, in separate geographiclocations from each other, including different areas of the same city,different cities, or different states. Furthermore, the processingperformed by the one or more servers 140 may be distributed among aplurality of servers in an arrangement known as “cloud computing.”According to the disclosed example, this configuration may provideseveral advantages, such as, for example, enabling near real-timeuploads and downloads of information as well as periodic uploads anddownloads of information.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary intelligent home systemmonitoring operating mode method 300 implemented on the system 100. Theintelligent home system monitoring operating mode method 300 may beimplemented as one or more modules to carry out the tasks associatedwith the method 300. The modules may be comprised of computer-executableinstructions stored on a computer (e.g., an intelligent home systemcontroller 106, a server 140, etc.) that when executed by a processor(e.g., the processor 162, the processor 206, etc.) cause the processorto implement the tasks discussed below. Some modules may be implementedby one or both of the intelligent home system controller 106 (or remoteintelligent home system controller 106R) or server 140 alone or inconjunction.

First, a customer has an intelligent home system (e.g., one or moreintelligent home system controllers, control devices 110, sensors 112,appliances 114, displays 116, input devices 118, etc.) installed in hisor her home 130 (block 302). Once the customer's intelligent home systemis installed and powered on, the user may select a monitoring operatingmode using an input device 118 or remote input device 118R (block 304).The customer may select a monitoring operating mode from among a fullmonitoring operating mode for an indefinite period of time (block 306A),full monitoring for a definite period of time (block 306B), limitedmonitoring where the customer authorizes monitoring on an alert-by-alertbasis (block 306C), or no monitoring (block 306D). Each monitoringoperating mode is discussed in more detail below. Once a monitoringoperating mode has been selected, the monitoring operating mode isexecuted until it is advantageous to change monitoring operating modes(blocks 308A, B, C, D). It may become time to change monitoringoperating modes when a customer inputs one or more commands with aninput device 118 or remote input device 118R to change monitoringoperating modes. Alternatively or additionally, the intelligent homesystem may be configured to execute a monitoring operating mode for alimited period of time, particularly the full monitoring for a definiteperiod of time discussed with relation to block 306B and FIG. 4. Then,the customer may select a different monitoring operating mode (block304).

Referring again to block 306A, a full monitoring for an indefiniteperiod of time monitoring operating mode may include the monitor 142receiving all (or some) of the alerts generated by the front-endcomponents 102 for the indefinite future. The monitor 142 may contact anappropriate responder in response to every alert generated by thefront-end components 102. Additionally or alternatively, the alertsgenerated by the front-end components 102 may be filtered or compared toa threshold level to determine whether contacting an appropriateresponder is warranted (e.g., waiting to respond to a security systemalert until the alert has been active for two minutes, not responding toa single smoke detector alert). As discussed above, the monitor 142 mayattempt to contact the user and/or contact the appropriate responder.Being for an indefinite period of time, the full monitoring may continueuntil the user changes to a different monitoring operating mode or theuser fails to pay for the service. The customer may be billed regularly(e.g., every week, month, year, etc.) for full monitoring and/or everytime the monitor 142 contacts an appropriate responder. Relative to thefull monitoring for a definite period of time operating mode discussedbelow, it may be advantageous to offer a discounted regular rate tousers who choose full monitoring for an indefinite period of time. Forexample, the monthly rate for full monitoring for a definite period oftime may be $100 while the monthly rate for full monitoring for anindefinite period of time may be $90.

Referring again to block 306D, the no monitoring operating mode mayinclude the monitor 142 being sent any of the alerts generated by thefront-end components 102. While the monitor 142 may not include anycentral monitoring services by a monitor 142 (e.g., receiving the alertsgenerated by the front-end components 102, contacting an appropriateresponder, etc.), the user may still interact with the intelligent homemonitoring system 100 via the display 116 and input device 118 and/orthe remote display 116R and/or remote input device 118R. For example,the user may receive an alert on an application installed on hissmartphone informing him of a security system alert. Similarly, the usermay receive any number of alert notifications from the variouscomponents of the intelligent home monitoring system 100. However, theno monitoring operating mode may include some monitoring for particularadverse conditions, especially if required by federal, state, or locallaws and/or regulations. In particular, the front-end components 102,may generate alerts relating to life threatening adverse conditions(e.g., fire, medical emergency, etc.) which may be received by themonitor 142. The monitor 142 may then contact the appropriate responderas discussed herein. The customer may be billed for this individualevent or may be charged a nominal regular fee. However, other non-lifethreatening alerts may not be forwarded to the monitor 142 (e.g., aflooded basement as described herein).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the full monitoring for adefinite period of time monitoring operating mode 400 discussed inrelation to block 306B. Prior to the start of the definite period oftime, the intelligent home monitoring system 100 may operate accordingto the no monitoring operating mode or pay-per-alert operating modediscussed herein (block 402). The definite period of time may start withthe setting of an Away From Home Flag (block 404). The Away From HomeFlag may be a variable, flag, etc. stored on either or both of theintelligent home monitoring system controller 106, server 140, or othercomputer in the intelligent home monitoring system 100. The Away FromHome Flag may be set by a user directly (e.g., via input to a website,phone call to the server 140 or monitor 142, input device 118, remoteinput device 118R, etc.) or may be set automatically by the intelligenthome monitoring system 100 when the intelligent home monitoring system100 determines that the user will be away from home for a certain periodof time. For example, the intelligent home monitoring system controller106, remote intelligent home monitoring system controller 106R, and/orserver 140 may access the calendar of the user to determine that theuser has a vacation, business trip, etc. planned. In particular, anapplication installed on the user's smartphone or tablet computer mayaccess the calendar stored on the same device (or stored in the cloud),to detect calendar events relating to plane or train tickets, cruises,events occurring in place in places geographically distant from the home130 (e.g., occurring in a place more than a certain number of milesaway) and set the Away From Home Flag if the calendar indicates that theuser is away from home. Additionally or alternatively, the applicationmay first ask the user whether he or she would like to set the Away FromHome Flag before setting it. The intelligent home monitoring systemcontroller 106, remote intelligent home monitoring system controller106R, and/or server 140 may also determine that the user has been awayfrom the home 130 for a certain period of time (e.g., motion sensors inthe home 130 have not detected anyone in a week) and set the Away FromHome Flag. This certain period of time may be adjustable by the user.

Alternatively or additionally, the definite period of time discussedabove may start with the setting of a Sleeping Flag. Like the Away FromHome Flag, the Sleeping Flag may be a variable, flag, etc. stored oneither or both of the intelligent home monitoring system controller 106,server 140, or other computer in the intelligent home monitoring system100. The Sleeping Flag may be set by a user directly (e.g., via input toa website, phone call to the server 140 or monitor 142, input device118, remote input device 118R, etc.) or may be set automatically by theintelligent home monitoring system 100 when the intelligent homemonitoring system 100 determines that the user is present in the home130 but asleep. For example, the intelligent home monitoring systemcontroller 106, remote intelligent home monitoring system controller106R, and/or server 140 may use various sensors 112 to determine thatthe user is present in the home but sleeping (e.g., by detecting thepresence of a user in the bedroom but detecting little to no movementwith a motion sensor at night, by detecting that a significant majorityof lights in the home 130 are turned off at night, etc.). The conditionsand time parameters with which the Sleeping Flag may be set may be userconfigurable.

When the Away From Home Flag has been set, the monitor 142 may commencefull monitoring of the alerts generated by the front-end components 102(block 406). The monitor 142 may request an appropriate responder forevery alert generated by the front-end components 102. Additionally oralternatively, the alerts generated by the front-end components 102 maybe filtered or compared to a threshold level to determine whether aresponse from the monitor 142 is warranted (e.g., waiting to respond toa security system alert until the alert has been active for twominutes). Accordingly, the monitor 142 may respond to some or all alertsreceived by contacting the appropriate responder without attempting tocontact the user. Alternatively, the monitor 142 may attempt to contactthe user before contacting the appropriate responder.

After a certain amount of time, the user may be billed for the amount oftime the intelligent home monitoring system 100 has been monitoredand/or level of monitoring (block 408). For example, the user may bebilled weekly, monthly, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the user maybe billed for every time the monitor 142 responded to an alert bycontacting an appropriate responder. If full monitoring was triggered bythe setting of the Away From Home Flag, full monitoring may beterminated by unsetting the Away From Home Flag (block 410). As withsetting the Away From Home Flag, unsetting the Away From Home Flag maybe done by a user directly (e.g., via a website, phone call to themonitor 142, input device 118, remote input device 118R, etc.) or may beset automatically by the intelligent home monitoring system 100 when theintelligent home monitoring system 100 determines that the user hasreturned. For example, the intelligent home monitoring system controller106, remote intelligent home monitoring system controller 106R, and/orserver 140 may access the calendar of the user to determine when theuser's trip, vacation, etc. has ended. In particular, an applicationinstalled on the user's smartphone or tablet computer may access thecalendar stored on the same device (or stored in the cloud), to detectcalendar events relating to plane or train tickets for flights or trainsback home, the end of the cruise, events occurring near the home 130,etc. and unset the Away From Home Flag when it is determined that theuser is home. Additionally or alternatively, the application may firstask the user whether he or she would like to unset the Away From HomeFlag before unsetting it. The intelligent home monitoring systemcontroller 106, remote intelligent home monitoring system controller106R, and/or server 140 may also determine that the user has been awayfrom the home 130 for a certain period of time (e.g., a week) and setthe Away From Home Flag. This certain period of time may be adjustableby the user. If full monitoring was triggered by the setting of theSleeping Flag, full monitoring may be terminated by unsetting theSleeping Flag. As with setting the Sleeping Flag, unsetting the SleepingFlag may be done by a user directly (e.g., via a website, phone call tothe monitor 142, input device 118, remote input device 118R, etc.) ormay be set automatically by the intelligent home monitoring system 100when the intelligent home monitoring system 100 determines that the userhas awakened (e.g., by detecting increased movement of the user in themorning after detecting little movement during the night, by detectingthat various appliances or devices such as the microwave or a coffeemaker have been powered on, etc.). The conditions and time parameterswith which the Sleeping Flag may be unset may be user configurable. Oncethe Away From Home Flag or Sleeping Flag has been unset, the intelligenthome monitoring system 100 may be reconfigured to the no monitoringoperating mode or the pay-per-alert monitoring operating mode discussedherein. The intelligent home monitoring system 100 may be reconfiguredto the mode in which the intelligent home monitoring system 100 had beenoperating in block 402, or the intelligent home monitoring system 100may be configured to another mode. For example, if the intelligent homemonitoring system 100 had been operating in no monitoring operating modeat block 402, the intelligent home monitoring system 100 may beconfigured to operate in the pay-per-alert operating mode or vice versa.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the limited monitoring where thecustomer authorizes sending an alert to a monitor on an alert-by-alertbasis (“pay-per-alert”) monitoring operating mode 500 discussed inrelation to block 306C. First, the one or more of the front-endcomponents 102 generates an alert (e.g., a security system alert, a firealert, a water leak alert, etc.) (block 502). The alert may be sent tothe display 116 and/or remote display 116R. Additionally oralternatively, the alert may be sent to the server 140 over the network132 and then the server 140 may send the alert to the display 116 and/orremote display 116R. For example, the server 140 may send the alert asan e-mail, text message, phone call, application alert on a smartphoneor tablet app, etc. (block 504). The alert may be received and displayedon the display 116 and/or remote display 116R. Additionally oralternatively, the alert may be included in a phone call to the user'sland line telephone (not shown). Additionally or alternatively, thealert may be e-mailed to the user's e-mail address and displayed on thedisplay 116 and/or remote display 116R.

After receiving the alert, the user has the option to disable the alertor send the alert to the monitor 142 (block 506). For example, the usermay input a command on the input device 118 and/or remote input device118R and/or telephone (not shown). In particular, the user may use anapp on a smartphone or tablet computer to input a command to disable thealert or send the alert to the monitor 142. If the user selects todisable the alert, the intelligent home monitoring system 100 maydisable the alert (block 508). If a user elects to send the alert to themonitor 142 or the user does not send a command within a certain periodof time (e.g., two minutes after the alert is received), the alert issent to the monitor 140 (block 510). After receiving the alert, themonitor 142 contacts the appropriate responder (block 512). Then theappropriate responder travels to the home 130 to respond to the alert(block 514). The customer may be billed for the monitor 142 contactingthe appropriate responder for the alert (block 516).

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of an intelligent home system 600installed in a home that may collect customer usage data to send to aserver 140 (or other back-end component 104). A user 602 may remotelyinteract with the intelligent home system 600 using a mobile device 604.Such a mobile device 604 may include, for example, a mobile phone 604A,a tablet computer 604B, etc. The intelligent home system 600 may includean intelligent lock 606. Such an intelligent lock 606 may include asensor to detect the state of the intelligent lock 606 (e.g., locked orunlocked) and/or a control mechanism to respond to commands from theintelligent home system 600 (e.g., a remote command to lock the door).The intelligent home system 600 may include one or more intelligent homecontrol panels 608 such as the downstairs home control panel 608A andthe upstairs intelligent home control panel 608B as shown in FIG. 6. Theintelligent home control panel 608 may include a display and/or inputproduct (e.g., a touchscreen) and may perform the functions of anintelligent home system controller 106 as described above. Such anintelligent home control panel 608 or a mobile device 604 may be used toreceive user input to the intelligent home monitoring system 100 asdescribed above. The intelligent home system 600 may include one or morelights 610 (e.g., the three lights 610A, B, C as shown in FIG. 6). Suchintelligent lights 610 may include a sensor component to detect, forexample, when a light 610 is on or off, and/or a control component toallow remote control of the intelligent light 610. The intelligent homesystem 600 may also include a camera or motion sensor 612. Theintelligent home system 600 may further include an intelligent outlet614. Such an intelligent outlet 614 may include a sensor component todetect, for example, when the outlet 614 is on or off, and/or a controlcomponent to allow remote control of the intelligent outlet 614. Theintelligent outlet 614 may be coupled to a television 614A and/or gamesystem 614B. The intelligent outlet may therefore detect when thetelevision 614A and/or game system 614B are turned on or off and/orallow the user 602 to remotely power on or power off either or both ofthe television 614A and game system 614B. The intelligent home system600 may also include one or more air conditioners 616, window sensors618, refrigerator 620, and/or dishwasher 622. Some or all of the airconditioner 616, window sensor 618, refrigerator 620, and dishwasher 622may be intelligent such that they are able to send a sensor data to theintelligent home system 600 and/or receive commands from the intelligenthome system 600.

In an example, the user 602 has configured the intelligent homemonitoring system 100 to use the pay-per-alert monitoring operatingmode, and he may receive the various alerts generated by the intelligenthome monitoring system 100 at his smartphone 604A and/or his tabletcomputer 604B. If the window sensor 618 has detected a window breakage,the intelligent home monitoring system 100 may generate a break-in alertand send the break-in alert to an app installed on the smart phone 604Aand/or tablet computer 604B. The user 602 may elect to send the alert tothe central monitoring system (e.g., the monitor 142 shown in FIG. 1) tocall the police to respond to a break-in. Alternatively, the user 602may have been playing catch with another person and accidentally threw abaseball through the window, in which case he may disable the alert.

In another example, if the user 602 has configured the intelligent homemonitoring system 100 to use the full monitoring for a definite periodof time monitoring operating mode, the intelligent home monitoringsystem 100 may send alerts to the monitor 142 during the time when theuser is away from the home. The user 602 may use the smartphone 604A,tablet computer 604B, and/or intelligent home monitoring system panel608 to inform the intelligent home monitoring system 100 and that hewill be on vacation for the next two weeks. Alternatively, theintelligent home monitoring system app installed on the smart phone 604Aand/or tablet computer 604B may access the user's calendar and detectentries for a flight from Chicago to Hawaii and a flight from Hawaii toChicago two weeks later. The intelligent home monitoring system 100 maydetermine that the user 602 will be taking a two-week vacation toHawaii. The intelligent home monitoring system app may then ask the user602 if he would like to enable full monitoring for the next two weeks.During the user's trip to Hawaii, the intelligent home monitoring systempanel 608 may send all the alerts generated by the system 600 to amonitor 142. The monitor 142 may contact an appropriate responder forevery alert.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as includinglogic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, orinstructions. These may constitute either software (e.g., code embodiedon a machine-readable medium) or hardware. In hardware, the routines,etc., are tangible units capable of performing certain operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client orserver computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computersystem (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured bysoftware (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardwaremodule that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module maycomprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured(e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) toperform certain operations. A hardware module may also compriseprogrammable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within ageneral-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that istemporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware modulemechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments inwhich hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed),each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware modulescomprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configurea processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module atone instance of time and to constitute a different hardware module at adifferent instance of time.

Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multipleof such hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may beachieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) that connect the hardware modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated at differenttimes, communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. Forexample, one hardware module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory product to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a latertime, access the memory product to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input oroutput products, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at leastpartially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain ofthe operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors maybe located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments theprocessors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine,but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments,the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modulesmay be distributed across a number of geographic locations.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using wordssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions orprocesses of a machine (e.g., a computer) that manipulates or transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical)quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or othermachine components that receive, store, transmit, or displayinformation.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and“connected” along with their derivatives. For example, some embodimentsmay be described using the term “coupled” to indicate that two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact. The term“coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not indirect contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interactwith each other. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the description. Thisdescription, and the claims that follow, should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it isobvious that it is meant otherwise.

This detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and doesnot describe every possible embodiment, as describing every possibleembodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. One could implementnumerous alternate embodiments, using either current technology ortechnology developed after the filing date of this application.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for monitoring a building with a buildingmonitoring system wherein the building monitoring system generates auser notification when an adverse condition is detected, the methodcomprising: configuring, by one or more processors, the buildingmonitoring system to operate in one of a plurality of operating modes,the plurality of operating modes including: a full monitoring mode inwhich the building monitoring system sends, to a central monitoringsystem, respective alerts corresponding to respective detected adverseconditions, and in which a user is charged a rate based on a time periodoccurring while the building monitoring system is configured in the fullmonitoring mode, the rate including every alert sent to the centralmonitoring system during the time period; and a customer-authorizedmonitoring mode, in which: (i) the building monitoring system does notsend a respective alert corresponding to a respective detected adversecondition to the central monitoring system without one of (i) receivingan affirmative user command in response to a notification sent to one ormore user devices and corresponding to the respective detected adversecondition, or (ii) failing to receive a negative user command inresponse to the notification sent to the one or more user devices withina time interval, and (ii) the user is charged for each alert sent fromthe building monitoring system to the central monitoring system whilethe building monitoring system is configured in the customer-authorizedmonitoring mode.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending,to the central monitoring system from the building monitoring system,the each alert corresponding to the customer-authorized monitoring mode.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, while the buildingmonitoring system is configured in the customer-authorized monitoringmode, sending, by the building monitoring system, the notification to amobile device included in the one or more user devices, wherein themobile device is configured to generate the affirmative user command andthe negative user command.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetecting one or more adverse conditions corresponding to the monitoredbuilding while the building monitoring system is configured in the fullmonitoring mode or in the customer-authorized monitoring mode.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein detecting the one or more adverse conditionscomprises detecting at least one of: fire, water damage, theft of goodsfrom the building, entry into the building, or a power outage.
 6. Amethod for monitoring a building with a building monitoring system, themethod comprising: configuring, by one or more processors, the buildingmonitoring system to a customer-authorized monitoring mode in which: thebuilding monitoring system does not send, to a central monitoringsystem, a respective alert corresponding to a respective detectedadverse condition without one of (i) receiving an affirmative usercommand in response to a notification that is sent by the buildingmonitoring system to one or more user devices and that corresponds tothe respective detected adverse condition, or (ii) failing to receive anegative user command in response to the notification sent to the one ormore user devices within a time interval; and a user corresponding tothe building monitoring system is charged, for each alert sent by thebuilding monitoring system to the central monitoring system while thebuilding monitoring system is configured in the customer-authorizedmonitoring mode; and reconfiguring, by the one or more processors, thebuilding monitoring system to a full monitoring mode in which thebuilding monitoring system ends, to the central monitoring system,respective alerts corresponding to respective detected adverseconditions, and in which a user is charged a rate based on a time periodoccurring while the building monitoring system is configured in the fullmonitoring mode, the rate including every alert sent to the centralmonitoring system during the time period.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein at least one of configuring the building monitoring system tothe customer-authorized monitoring mode or reconfiguring the buildingmonitoring system to the full monitoring mode is based on a presence ofthe user in the building.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprisingdetermining, by the one or more processors, the presence of the user inthe building.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of: (i) therespective detected adverse condition corresponding to thecustomer-authorized monitoring mode, or (ii) the respective detectedadverse conditions corresponding to the full monitoring mode include atleast one of: fire, water damage, theft of goods from the building,entry into the building, or a power outage.
 10. The method of claim 6,further comprising, while the building monitoring system is configuredin the customer-authorized monitoring mode, generating the notificationcorresponding to the respective detected adverse condition, andtransmitting the notification to a mobile device included in the one ormore user devices, wherein the mobile device is configured to transmitthe affirmative user command and to transmit the negative user command.11. A building monitoring system, comprising: one or more processorscommunicatively connected to a sensor disposed within a building, thesensor configured to gather information about a condition in thebuilding; and one or more program memories storing executableinstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,configure the building monitoring system to be in one from a pluralityof operating modes, the plurality of operating modes including: a fullmonitoring mode in which the building monitoring system sends, to acentral monitoring system, respective alerts corresponding to respectivedetected adverse conditions, and in which a user is charged a rate basedon a time period occurring while the building monitoring system isconfigured in the full monitoring mode, the rate including every alertsent to the central monitoring system during the time period; and acustomer-authorized monitoring mode in which: (i) the buildingmonitoring system does not send, to the central monitoring system, arespective alert corresponding to a respective detected adversecondition without one of (i) receiving an affirmative user command inresponse to a notification that is sent by the building monitoringsystem to one or more user devices and that corresponds to therespective detected adverse condition, or (ii) failing to receive, inresponse to the notification sent to the one or more user devices, anegative user command within a time interval, and (ii) the user ischarged for each alert sent by the building monitoring system to thecentral monitoring system while the building monitoring system isconfigured in the customer-authorized monitoring mode.
 12. The buildingmonitoring system of claim 11, wherein at least one of: (i) therespective detected adverse condition corresponding to thecustomer-authorized monitoring mode or (ii) the respective detectedadverse conditions corresponding to the full monitoring mode include atleast one of: fire, water damage, theft of goods from the building,entry into the building, or a power outage.
 13. The building monitoringsystem of claim 11, wherein the respective alerts corresponding to thefull monitoring mode and the each alert corresponding to thecustomer-authorized monitoring mode are generated by the buildingmonitoring system.
 14. The building monitoring system of claim 13,wherein at least one of the respective alerts corresponding to the fullmonitoring mode or the each alert corresponding to thecustomer-authorized monitoring mode are generated by the buildingmonitoring system based on a presence or an absence of the user in thebuilding.
 15. The building monitoring system of claim 14, wherein thepresence or the absence of the user in the building is determined by thebuilding monitoring system.
 16. The building monitoring system of claim11, wherein the notification corresponding to the detected particularadverse condition is sent to a mobile device included in the one or moreuser devices, and wherein the mobile device is configured to transmitthe affirmative user command and is configured to transmit the negativeuser command.
 17. The building monitoring system of claim 11, whereinthe respective detected adverse condition corresponding to theauthorized customer-authorized monitoring mode is detected by the sensorof the building monitoring system.
 18. The building monitoring system ofclaim 11, wherein the time interval is based on a time at which theparticular adverse condition was detected.